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Adventuring in the Dark: Basic and Advanced Spelunking Tips.

Posted by: Corwin Skyborn on 2006-04-15
Category: Adventuring

From the very first days of your adventuring in Valorn You will be braving underground locales which claim the lives of the unwary and guard untold riches within their dark embrace. First and foremost when preparing to explore in the deep dark places I suggest buying enough potions to keep you alive then equipping the best armor, the latest weapon, and the brightest Torch you can find. The Sturdy Torch serves my purposes very well due to being relatively lightweight and cheap. In the beginning you will likely not have much need for light beyond having a Sturdy Torch equipped. Eventually as you travel farther and delve deeper you will likely encounter true havens of darkness and even zones of magical darkness. Overcoming such near magical darkness & definately magical darkness is possible without resorting to Enchantments or Blessings. However if you do have access to such spell based light then use it to supplement your Light needs.

In the low-range levels of 1-18 You can easily get by with a Sturdy Torch and your Amulet of Evilsbane. If you need more light than this, then carry a 2nd Sturdy Torch and drop it on the ground, The light will shine allowing you to gather items from the ground then lastly you pick the spare torch back up to be used again. You may also like the flare of a nice Flaming Broadsword and this is a perfectly viable option, but I find the Flaming Broadsword to be HEAVY and Expensive I suggest staying with a nice Rapier to take advantage of the Dex bonus and just carrying a few disposable Sturdy Torches as your needs require. Using a Blessed Ring is an excellent choice as well because you can take it off to negate the Strength drain during a fight, then put it back on to have it's light at your disposal.

In the mid-range levels of 19-39 You will have several non-spell Magical sources of Light become available. Including the Amulet of Righteousness, The Glowing Scarab Shield, Shield of Fire, Fine Flaming Broadsword, Scepter of Morning Light, Molten Fire Amulet, And Various Glowing Rocks, Stones, or Gems. In the Darkest places Equip every lighted item possible and then use my "Drop Torch" method to pick up treasure then pick up the dropped torch.

In the high-range levels of 40-60 You have the possibility of Forging the Ultimate Weapon of Light, or Spending a few thousand Platinum to buy +1 Light scrolls which will apply to weapons. You can readily Light your path using the accumulated Lighted Item and the tactics which I have outlined within this short guide. Just remember to always light the area in which you are training, because it would be tragic to kill a monster which dropped a Treasure Box which you never saw because you were adventuring in the dark.